RUMST
Belgium.
A Gallo-Roman vicus on
the Bavai-Asse-Antwerp-Utrecht road, where it crosses
the junction of the Nèthe and the Dyle rivers. It was on
the boundary between the civitas Nerviorum and the
civitas Tungrorum, which became the boundary between
Belgica Secunda and Germania Inferior during the Late
Empire. Numerous isolated finds have been made there
and some fairly unsystematic excavations were undertaken in 1863, 1873, and 1930. The location of the center was identified in the locality of Molenveld (where many potsherds, coins, large quantities of tegulae, pieces
of painted plaster, and traces of an ironworks, etc., were
found). The necropolis, situated in the vicinity of Kattenberg, was destroyed by brickmaking operations before it could be excavated. Tiles stamped CGPF (Classis Gerinania Pia Fidelis) suggest that part of the fleet of
Germania Inferior was stationed at Rumst. This is understandable since the Nèthe and the Dyle, after their
junction, form the Rupel, a large tributary of the
Scheldt. From Rumst it would have been easy to watch
the whole region of the estuaries of the Scheldt, the
Meuse, and the Rhine. The most remarkable of the stray
finds was a bronze votive hand, of the cult of Sabazios.
This vestige of an oriental cult may perhaps be related
to the presence at Rumst of sailors of the fleet.
We have almost no precise information about the history of the vicus. It seems to have replaced an Iron Age
settlement, of which some remains have been found,
notably huts at the localities of Holbeekstraat and Bussestraat. In contrast, the vicus apparently was no longer occupied during the Late Empire.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Bauwens-Lesenne,
Bibliografisch
repertorium des oudheidkundige vondsten in de provincie Antwerpen (1965) 150-55.
S. J. DE LAET